5 Apocalyptic Lessons From Halo: Reach

June 15, 2012

Halo: Reach, the final installment-prequel in the Haloseries by Bungie, chronicled the initial invasion and downfall of the human race on the planet Reach to the Covenant.

The planet Reach is humanity’s last line of defense between the encroaching Covenant and their ultimate goal, the destruction of Earth. If it falls, humanity will be pushed to the brink of destruction.source

Known for it’s fairly short campaign mode and extensive multiplayer offerings, Halo: Reach is a perfect way to learn a few apocalypse life lessons.

Apocalyptic Lessons from Halo: Reach

1. Know your goal not just your enemy.

I’ve played a few rounds of Gruntpocalypse having no idea what my goal was. I knew I wanted to kill grunts but I didn’t know how many or for how long… I just played aimlessly. Finally, I called Husband and asked him what I was actually trying to do.
“Kill all the Grunts.”
“Yeah, but for how long and to what end?”
See, my problem was that I wasn’t aware of my objective so I wasn’t making an effort to achieve it. I just got frustrated and let myself die ten times without realizing there was a pattern and a clear indication when the match was going to end [1. Also, I’m the most impatient with the shortest attention span so that didn’t help.].
Knowing I wanted to Kill the Grunts wasn’t enough I needed to know why and to what end.
In the post-apocalypse, you can kill zombies all day but if more will just keep coming and you never realize there’s a shelter you should be making your way to, you’ll just get exhausted and never see the forest for the trees– or the new post-apocalyptic world for the zombies.

2. Swarms rarely come from just one direction.

This is something that applied to Grunts but was more of a problem with more intelligent foes. A pack of enemies would come running at you from the front and you’d merrily pick them off until all of a sudden you’re getting lit up from behind.
What the fuck, you you damn near Running Riot. Well, the fuck is you weren’t watching your back. In the campaign your NPCs are always watching Six’s six but in a solo firefight you have to make sure you’re covered on your own.
Either squish yourself in a corner or play with a friend. Just because you can see danger doesn’t mean there isn’t danger you can’t see.
Too many times we see people covering the entrance the came through or the herd of zombies they’re running from only to be got from behind, so stunned and surprised they rarely react well.

3. Hanging out in the corner and picking off enemies is not cowardly, it’s smart.

On the note of not getting lit up from behind, choose your cover wisely. If you can, find a hidey-hole with a good view and kill everyone from the safety of… safety. The objective isn’t to fight fair or give the other guys a fair shake.
Actually, fairness is contrary to your objective. Killing your enemies and staying alive is your objective. If you hang out in the open like you’re having an oldtimey quick-draw cowboy fight, you’ll get sniped by some dick on a rooftop.
Similarly, in the post-apocalypse, you’re objective isn’t to hear everyone out and be kind to others, it’s to stay alive.

4. Teamwork!

When playing multiplayer it’s important to talk to the people on your team. Where are they? What’s the plan of attack? Are we all going hologram so it looks like there’s twelve of us?
Sure, you can win a multiplayer firefight without talking to your team but it’s not as likely. If you know where the sniper is or that there’s a guy running around with a sword near where your teammate is, you should either do something about it or warn the team so someone else can. Two options are always better than one.
Also, people will want to play with you again if you’re a team player. People don’t like the asshole who just does his own thing and isn’t really a part of the team. Maybe you’re really good and that’ll be awesome for a while but people don’t trust skill alone.
Communication, looking out for the interests of others, and working together to achieve a goal are all vital skills to learn and implement in the post-apocalypse.

5. Some people suck at stuff.

I love playing Halo: Reach, but I’m willing to admit I’m not awesome at it. Knowing that, my husband and my friends were all still more than happy to play with me. I still had to take a shot every time my kill spread was negative ten or lower, but they also cheered me on when I did well in my relative range of well-doing.
The thing is, I know I suck at actually killing people. Instead of contributing to the kill count, I make sure to step up my teamwork game. I warn, pose as bait, double-team and generally do what I can to avoid getting killed.
In the post-apocalypse we’ll have parties made up of all kinds of people, and some of them will suck at things that need to get done. Be patient and remind yourself that there might be some stuff you’ll suck at that they could help you with, or maybe they could just help you be better at things you’re good at.

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tavia.

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Al Santos

Great Article. You brought up some incredible points that alot of young players don’t even think of. Hell, some of them don’t even see these points in real life.
Well written. Thanks again.
VET73
FORERUNNER

Why thank you. I appreciate your appreciation.
Video Games are one of those areas where you have to humble yourself while being considerate and not caring too much what others think. Otherwise you’ll have a miserable time. Same is true with life in general.

Great Article. You brought up some incredible points that alot of young players don’t even think of. Hell, some of them don’t even see these points in real life.
Well written. Thanks again.
VET73
FORERUNNER

As far as firefight is concerned, it can be gruelling if you’re not watching your back for the tougher enemies like Elites, Brutes or random invisible foes. 😛 But where Gruntapocolypse is concerned, it’s considered to be a meat grinder to warm you up. I’ve barely died alone, if I did it was once or maybe even twice because something in the mechanics of the engine got me, grenade blows up, sent frag to face, things like that. You can go out like a cowboy all you want against Grunts, unless there is something wrong with you.. I mean, I quickly get headshots on grunts and instantly kill them, about 90% of my shots are headshots, but it’s gotta be because I’ve played through Halo 1, 2, 3 and ODST on Legendary. So I’m very accustomed to FPS in general and the pew pew of killing mercilessly lol But, to be honest, in general firefight, even my cousin and I don’t call things out much, only like “Let’s take out the wraith, I’ll distract it” or if he dies and is like “Wtf”, I’m like “What killed you?” and if he’s like “Elite backstabbed me”, then I wonder over to the place he died, there isn’t much calling out in that scenario. People I play with only tend to try hard in matchmaking. Must be because they’re all like 50’s and I’m a well veteran’ed 40, we have the ability to take care of ourselves vs AI characters.

Ah, see there’s the difference. Halo: Reach is really my first FPS. I’m more of and adventure RPG girl. I didn’t even understand the two stick mechanic or looking an moving for a while.
I think it’s important to recognize you have the luxury of comfort and familiarity both with the person and the setting so there’s less to discuss and more to just trust that each of you will do what you do best– an understanding communicated and built over time.
Also, with those honed senses you’ll probably make a great party member!

Haha, I’m not that good, I just know I can take a grunt in 1-2 bullets, and I know my surroundings and maps very well, but I have a few friends that don’t have as much skill, but they seem almost intimidated by my rank or skill and don’t ask me to play. I’m not a mean person or anything. lol I do, have very many luxuries, I grew up with FPS, hell I spent over 500 hours playing Perfect Dark vs AI when I was 12/13 years old on the N64. But You don’t need to have massive experience to be good, as long as you backup your friends any FPS can be easy.

As far as firefight is concerned, it can be gruelling if you’re not watching your back for the tougher enemies like Elites, Brutes or random invisible foes. 😛 But where Gruntapocolypse is concerned, it’s considered to be a meat grinder to warm you up. I’ve barely died alone, if I did it was once or maybe even twice because something in the mechanics of the engine got me, grenade blows up, sent frag to face, things like that. You can go out like a cowboy all you want against Grunts, unless there is something wrong with you.. I mean, I quickly get headshots on grunts and instantly kill them, about 90% of my shots are headshots, but it’s gotta be because I’ve played through Halo 1, 2, 3 and ODST on Legendary. So I’m very accustomed to FPS in general and the pew pew of killing mercilessly lol But, to be honest, in general firefight, even my cousin and I don’t call things out much, only like “Let’s take out the wraith, I’ll distract it” or if he dies and is like “Wtf”, I’m like “What killed you?” and if he’s like “Elite backstabbed me”, then I wonder over to the place he died, there isn’t much calling out in that scenario. People I play with only tend to try hard in matchmaking. Must be because they’re all like 50’s and I’m a well veteran’ed 40, we have the ability to take care of ourselves vs AI characters.

Ah, see there’s the difference. Halo: Reach is really my first FPS. I’m more of and adventure RPG girl. I didn’t even understand the two stick mechanic or looking an moving for a while.
I think it’s important to recognize you have the luxury of comfort and familiarity both with the person and the setting so there’s less to discuss and more to just trust that each of you will do what you do best– an understanding communicated and built over time.
Also, with those honed senses you’ll probably make a great party member!

Haha, I’m not that good, I just know I can take a grunt in 1-2 bullets, and I know my surroundings and maps very well, but I have a few friends that don’t have as much skill, but they seem almost intimidated by my rank or skill and don’t ask me to play. I’m not a mean person or anything. lol I do, have very many luxuries, I grew up with FPS, hell I spent over 500 hours playing Perfect Dark vs AI when I was 12/13 years old on the N64. But You don’t need to have massive experience to be good, as long as you backup your friends any FPS can be easy.